Most Notable Open Source iOS Apps or Applications

Open Source iOS Apps: Open sources iOS apps gives us an opportunity to add new features to the existing system and fixing issues by the large group members. Before Open Source, only the apple team and their developer can add and edit the features in the language system, but now it is open for other developers. The developers can submit the requests and merge the code to the main repository. Here we are sharing most notable Open sources iOS applications or apps.

Open Source iOS Apps or Applications

1. ChatSecure:

ChatSecure is one of the most popular open sources iOS messaging applications, which is available under the General Public License. It allows OTR and OMEMO encryption for the XMPP protocol and also features built-in support for anonymous communication on the Tor network. ChatSecure has been used by international individuals, governments, and businesses, and it was the first iOS application to support OTR messaging, and this is completely free. Clients who need considerably more grounded security can interface with ChatSecure from their own particular private server. ChatSecure doesn’t require your telephone number of some other individual information to begin.

2. Linphone:

Linphone is one of the most popular open source iOS apps offering free audio, video calls and text messaging, and also supports ZRTP for end-to-end encrypted voice and video communication. It was initially developed for Linux, but now supports other platforms too such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and mobile phones running on Windows, iOS or Android. Linphone is currently developed by Belledonne Communications in France. Linphone’s key features including high definition audio and video calls, audio conference calls with various participants, pictures and file sharing, Linphone accounts reachable at any time, even if the app is closed, secure communication, and compliant with a large number of SIP-compatible VoIP service providers.

3. ownCloud:

ownCloud is a popular open source, self-hosted file sync and share app platform. This is a suite of client server software, which you can install on a server to manage files, contacts, calendars, music, pictures and much more. It’s functionally very similar to Dropbox, and supports extensions that allow it to work like Google Drive, with online document editing, calendar and contact synchronization, and more. ownCloud can synchronise with local clients running Windows, macOS, or various Linux distributions. The ownCloud server is written in the PHP and JavaScript scripting languages, and it is designed to work with several database management systems, including SQLite, MariaDB, MySQL, Oracle Database, and PostgreSQL. You can download the ownCloud from its official website and from third-party repositories, such as Google Play Store and Apple iTunes.

4. Signal:

Signal is a one of the widely used open sources iOS applications for iPhone and Android, which is developed by Open Whisper Systems. It is also one of the iOS security apps, and uses the Internet to send one-to-one and group messages including files, voice notes, images and videos, and make one-to-one voice and video calls. Signal uses standard cellular mobile numbers as identifiers, and uses end-to-end encryption to secure all communications to other Signal users.All calls are made over a Wi-Fi or data connection and with the exception of data fees are free of charge, including long distance and international. This is the successor of an encrypted voice calling app called RedPhone and an encrypted texting program called TextSecure.

5. Surespot:

Surespot is a well known open source iOS instant messaging app for iPhone and iPad users. This open sources iOS application has a focus on privacy and security, and uses end-to-end encryption by default. Surespot uses 256 bit AES-GCM encryption using keys created with 521 bit ECDH. It’s main features are:

Deletion of messages from the receiving device.

Offline backup via iTunes on the iOS version, or to local device storage on the Android version.

One can use multiple identities, for instance for private or business use.

Supports sending of pictures.

Supports sending of audio messages (in the past only after an in-app purchase, currently for free).

Supports Emoji icons.

Supports blocking of users.

6. Telegram:

Telegram is a widely known cloud-based open source iOS instant messaging app for iPhone and iPad users, which allows users to send messages, exchange photos, videos, stickers, audio, and files, and provides optional end-to-end-encrypted messaging. This app is available on many platform such as Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows NT, macOS and Linux. According to sources, Telegram app has over 100 million monthly active users, sending 15 billion messages per day, and this app is most popular in Iran. Its accounts are tied to telephone numbers and are verified by SMS or phone call. Telegram’s security model is undermined by its use of a custom-designed encryption protocol that has not been proven reliable and secure, and by not enabling secure conversations by default.

7. VLC Media Player:

VLC is an open source iOS media player application, portable and cross-platform, and streaming media server. This open sources application is available for both desktop operating systems and mobile platforms, such as Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone, Android, Tizen, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. VLC is also available on App stores such as Apple’s App Store, Google Play store and Microsoft Windows Store. VLC media player supports many audio, video compression methods and file formats including DVD-Video, video CD and streaming protocols. VLC application known as the first player to support playback of encrypted DVDs on Linux and macOS by using the libdvdcss DVD decryption library.

8. wikiHow:

wikiHow is one of the most popular wiki-style how to guide website, which was founded by Internet entrepreneur Jack Herrick. This is an open sources content website, and its goal to create the world’s most helpful how-to instructions to enable everyone in the world to learn how to do anything. WikiHow allows anyone to edit pages and create pages, and it contains over 180,000 how-to articles. The content of the website is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license, which means that the content can be modified and reused for non-commercial purposes.

9. Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is widely known and used open source online encyclopedia, which allows anyone to create and edit articles. It is owned by Wikimedia Foundation, which is a non-profit organisation, and ranked the fifth-most popular website. Wikipedia has been criticised for allegedly exhibiting systemic bias, presenting a mixture of “truths, half truths, and some falsehoods”, and, in controversial topics, being subject to manipulation and spin. According to a report, Wikipedia has about forty thousand high-quality articles known as Featured Articles and Good Articles that cover vital topics. It consists of more than 40 million articles in more than 250 different languages and had 18 billion page views and nearly 500 million unique visitors each month.

10. Wire:

Wire is the last open sources iOS app in our list for iPhone and iPad users. It is a cross-platform, encrypted instant messaging developed by Wire Swiss. It is available for various platforms such as iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, macOS and Web browser clients. Wire allows the users to make voice and video calls; send text messages, files, images, videos, audio files and supports group messaging via internet connection. Wire is available on mobile, desktop and web.